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Edtech venture capital funding in 2023 may be on pace for its lowest annual total since 2016. The one exception to this edtech funding dropoff is in AI tools for education and upskilling. This puts the estimated total funding for 2023 at only $3.5 billion, the lowest annual total since 2016, according to HolonIQ. Additionally, there has not been a single edtech "mega round," or a startup funding round valued at over $100 million since 2022, with the exception of the Indian edtech unicorn Byju's $250 million fundraise this spring. Pujji and Mushin also indicated that AI edtech deals were the exception in this slowdown period.
Persons: VCs, It's, Vinny Pujji, Iynna Halilou, Leeor Mushin, Avalanche's Katelyn Donnelly, Mushin, they've, Chegg's, Cheggmate, Khan, Pujji Organizations: Left Lane Capital, Global, Bloomberg, Investors
Paper, an edtech unicorn focused on online tutoring for K-12 students, has laid off staff. The cuts come as edtech startups are facing increasing pressure amid a downturn. The Canadian online tutoring startup Paper has laid off 106 employees, or 4% of staff, Insider has learned. Unlike other online tutoring companies, the bulk of the startup's online tutors are categorized as employees, not contractors, according to Paper's website. Other prominent edtech startups including Byju's, GoStudent, and Degreed have also cut jobs in the past year.
Persons: Slack, we've, Cutler Organizations: Employees, SoftBank Investment, Sapphire Ventures, Los Angeles Unified Locations: Canada, Los Angeles
From Karat to Spill, venture capitalists are betting on creator-focused companies in 2023.Insider is highlighting 14 VC firms that are backing startups in the space right now. By 2021, the space had raised approximately $939 million in venture capital, according to Crunchbase data. Many startups have raised money in 2023, from pre-seed stages to larger later-stage rounds. Insider is highlighting over a dozen VC firms, as well as their partners who specialize in creator-focused startups, that are funding the next wave of creator-economy companies. Here are 14 VC firms funding the creator economy in 2023:Note: Firms are listed in alphabetical order.
Persons: Marlon Nichols, Nichols, Karat Organizations: MaC Venture
Quench.ai, a new company from Onfido cofounder Hussayn Kassai, has raised $5 million. The pre-seed round came from an array of firms including Firstminute Capital and Tuesday VC. The startup wants to help upskill young professionals at companies to give them a competitive edge. Quench.ai, a new startup using AI to help upskill workers, has raised $5 million in pre-seed funding. The startup, which was set up by the cofounder of identity verification unicorn Onfido, aims to help professionals find relevant training content to help with learning and development.
Persons: Hussayn Kassai, Kassai, Quench.ai Organizations: Firstminute Capital, Firstminute, VC, BY Venture Partners, Ada Ventures, Ventures, Notion Locations: COVID, Europe
InDrive is a ride-hailing app that lets customers haggle with drivers for fares. Many drivers are Uber and Lyft contractors eager to check out inDrive's promise of letting drivers and passengers negotiate ride prices, Arsen Tomsky, inDrive's CEO and founder, said. In 2022, inDrive was the second most downloaded ride-hailing app globally, behind Uber, according to Data.AI. Though it started in Russia, inDrive fully separated from its Russian business last year after the country invaded Ukraine, the company said. In addition to ride-hailing, inDrive in other global markets has added new business segments, including freight delivery, task assistance, and package delivery.
Persons: Arsen, Tomsky, InDrive, haggle, inDrive, Arsen Tomsky, Siberia Tomsky, Uber, Catalyst, verticals Organizations: Service, Fort Lauderdale , West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Taxi, Tomsky, Insight Partners, Bond Locations: Siberia, South Florida, Wall, Silicon, America, Asia, Miami, South Beach, Brickell, Fort Lauderdale , West Palm, New York City, New Yorkers, Pacific, Africa, haggling, Yakutsk, Siberian, Florida, Russia, Ukraine
Four years into its existence, Skims, the apparel company co-founded by Kim Kardashian, has become a unicorn four times over. Skims has raised $270 million in a new funding round that values it at $4 billion, the company plans to announce on Wednesday. That’s up from the $3.2 billion valuation investors gave the company last year. Ms. Kardashian and her business partner, Jens Grede, have sought to turn Skims into the next big apparel brand. “It has grown quickly and we’re so proud of that,” Ms. Kardashian said in an interview.
Persons: Kim Kardashian, Skims, That’s, Ms, Kardashian, Jens Grede, “ We’ve,
He now has a net worth of $1.2 billion, which comes from owning nearly a third of Yanolja with his wife and two daughters, according to Forbes . Yanolja founder and chairman Lee Su-jin started his lucrative career in the travel industry as a motel janitor. He saved his money, invested in stocks and even started a salad business, according to Bloomberg. So he decided to rebrand love hotels. "If all the motels relied on love, they'd starve to death," Lee told Bloomberg.
Persons: Lee, Lee Su, Yanolja, Kim Jong, yoon, Kim, SoftBank Organizations: Forbes, Bloomberg, CNBC, SoftBank Vision, Reuters Locations: Korea, Yanolja
The water-recycling firm Gradiant became one of the first in the space to be valued at $1 billion. Bajpayee's Gradiant helps industrial businesses get this under control by treating and recycling used water. Gradiant has raised over $400 million from investors to date and counts BMW, Coca-Cola, Pfizer, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. as customers. "If you think about it, ever since the industrial revolution, we've just been taking water from nature," Bajpayee told Insider. Bajpayee added that the company used fewer and, "in some cases," no chemicals in its treatments.
Persons: Gradiant, Anurag Bajpayee, we've, Bajpayee, MIT spinout, Iris, Extantia, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lindsey Higgins, Higgins Organizations: BMW, Cola, Pfizer, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, MIT, Synthesis Locations: Microsoft's, South America
The Hollywood actors’ union said Tuesday that it had exempted 39 independent film and TV projects from its strike, including two movies from A24, the secretive New York company that has become a force at the Academy Awards. Talks between the union and the alliance for a new three-year contract broke down on Thursday, and tens of thousands of actors went on strike on Friday. The productions will become subject to the final deal between the union and the studio alliance. The 39 projects include “Mother Mary,” a melodrama co-financed by A24 and starring Anne Hathaway as a fictional musician and Michaela Coel (known for “I May Destroy You” on HBO) as a fashion designer. The second A24 project, “Death of a Unicorn,” stars Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega, who is known for “Wednesday” on Netflix.
Persons: , AFTRA, Mary, , Anne Hathaway, Michaela Coel, Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega Organizations: New, Academy, Alliance, Television Producers, SAG, HBO, Netflix Locations: New York
Character.AI lets users chat with and create bots based on famous figures throughout history. The app had been downloaded more than 5 million times, according to Bloomberg. Popular figures on the platform include Mario, Elon Musk, and Albert Einstein. One platform, Character.AI, says it's doing things differently from its competitors. For one thing, instead of delivering responses in a consistent voice or a set of pre-programmed personas, users can converse with and create chatbots based on famous figures throughout history.
Persons: Character.AI, Elon Musk, Albert Einstein, Daniel De Freitas, Noam Shazeer, Mario, Micheal Jackson, Tony Stark, Socrates Organizations: Bloomberg, Mario, ChatGPT, Google, Nintendo
Gabby Jones | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesAmerican stock brokerage startup Public launched its services in the U.K. Thursday, marking its first international expansion its launch in 2017. The app, backed by celebrities including Will Smith and skateboarding legend Tony Hawk, will offer U.K. users commission-free trading in over 5,000 U.S.-listed stocks during the country's regular trading hours. Bibas said that, for now, the U.K. is the only country Public is focusing on for its international expansion. In the future, it hopes to take learnings from its U.K. launch to open in other European markets. Freetrade, the U.K. brokerage startup, slashed its valuation by a whopping 65% last month to £225m in a crowdfunding round, citing a "different market environment."
Persons: Gabby Jones, Will Smith, Tony Hawk, AJ Bell, Hargreaves Lansdown, Leif Abraham, Public's, Abraham, Jannick Malling, PFOF, Dann Bibas, Bibas, he's Organizations: Bloomberg, Getty, Public, CNBC, Jannick, GameStop, Citadel Securities, European Union, Khepri Advisers, Financial, Authority, Accel, Tiger Global Locations: U.S, Abraham, Denmark, Germany, New York, Copenhagen, London, Amsterdam, Covid
US investment app Public is launching in the UK as it pushes into the European market. The company is backed by funds like Tiger Global and Accel as well as celebrities like Will Smith. US trading app Public is set to launch in the UK as it begins its European expansion. Leif Abraham, Public cofounder, said the UK made a "lot of sense" for the company. Public also has plans to expand to other European geographies in future, having announced its intentions to grow out its offering last year.
Persons: Will Smith, Tony Hawk, Leif Abraham, Abraham, Robinhood, Otis Organizations: Tiger Global, Accel, Public, FX Locations: New York, Copenhagen, Europe
"When you're interviewing for a job, you're marketing yourself," says William Vanderbloemen, the CEO of executive search firm Vanderbloemen Search Group. Vanderbloemen has interviewed over 30,000 job candidates, and written several books on how to build a successful career. "When I ask candidates to tell me about themselves, I'm looking for self-awareness," says Vanderbloemen. I can't stand sitting still and doing the same thing every day, even outside of work, I'm always eager to pick up new hobbies. mistake—how to spot and fix itAvoid this common 5-word mistake in job interviews, says HR exec who's interviewed hundreds
Persons: William Vanderbloemen, Vanderbloemen, it's, I've, I'm, who's Organizations: Search, Harvard
It's only fitting then that OpenAI should have a headquarters befitting its status as the vanguard of new AI revolution. But the company has kept details about its San Francisco headquarters a closely guarded secret. A reporter for Insider was even less successful, turned away by a security guard on an intercom who refused even to confirm or deny the existence of an OpenAI office at the location. But we may now have some hints about what it's like inside the offices of the world's most famous AI company, thanks to architectural plans and planning documents viewed by Insider. "It's an impressive space," said Peter Eisenbeiser, a city official who performed the final inspection of the 1960 Bryant Street space.
Persons: OpenAI, Peter Eisenbeiser, Travis Organizations: San Francisco's Mission, Microsoft, San, San Francisco, Florida Street, Bay, Eaton Hall, Architects, Boston Consulting Group Locations: San Francisco's, London, San Francisco, Florida, Seattle
Is A.I. the Greatest Technology Ever for Making Dumb Jokes?
  + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com   time to read: +12 min
Via Janelle Shane AI Weirdness Generated by A.I. Optimists cite scientific advances and other examples of human intelligence and machine intelligence augmenting each other, robots and people walking hand in hand toward the singularity. possibilities on a two-dimensional plot, where one axis runs from “machine stupidity” to “machine intelligence” and the other from “human stupidity to human intelligence.” Scientific leaps — like physicists’ developing A.I. Machine Intelligence, Human Stupidity Not just any A.I.-generated post deserves to be charted in the Funposting Zone. After all, the machines can keep improving, and human stupidity — the engine of many of history’s best jokes — isn’t going anywhere.
Persons: Overwatch, Spambots, ., Will Smith, Joe Rogan, Harry Potter, Balenciaga, Homer Simpson, Peter Griffin, , Janelle Shane, Janelle Shane ChatGPT’s, ChatGPT’s, Barack Obama’s, , Arik Ahmed, Ahmed, ” Ahmed, ” Mr, Donald J, Joe ”, , Pope Francis, I’d, , “ Will Smith, Elon Musk, Jordan Peterson, ” —, I’m, Harry Potter ”, Mustard, Roddy Ricch, ChatGPT, DALL, Shane, Bing Organizations: A.I, Biology, Balenciaga, Adobe, . Machine Intelligence, Colorado State Fair, Heath, Microsoft Locations: Rome, Ancient Rome, Silicon, dystopia, Funposting, Reddit, Minecraft
A Kei truck owner plans to give up his mini pickup as it's too hard and costly to find spare parts. Craig Disbrow's modified Kei truck without covers on the back. He estimates he spent another $3,000 turning it into a mini removal van. It's been enough to make Disbrow begrudgingly plan to give up the Kei truck and find something more common, he said. Do you own a Kei truck and have had problems too?
Persons: Craig Disbrow, Bongo, Kei, he'd, Disbrow, Craig Disbrow's, they're, didn't, It's Organizations: Morning Locations: New York City, North Carolina, New York, America
Online users shared a screenshot of an article with the following headline: “North Korea: Kim Jong Un Bans Suicide; Will Kill Anyone Who Attempts And Fails” (here), (here), (here). Several media outlets picked up the story and said North Korea had banned suicide (here), (here), (here). None of these articles say that suicide attempts will be punished by death. It is still unclear what, if any, punishment suicide attempts carry in North Korea. There is no evidence that North Korea will kill those who attempt suicide.
Persons: Kim Jong, Pragativadi, Kim, Kim Jong Un, Read Organizations: North, Radio Free Asia, Reuters, Radio Free Locations: North Korea, Korea
London-based Notion Capital has raised its fifth and largest fund to date. The software-as-a-service investor has brought in $327 million from new and existing LPs. Notion has backed companies like fintech unicorn GoCardless and Currencycloud. London-based investor Notion Capital has raised 300 million euros (around $327 million) for its fifth fund. The fund focuses on software-as-a-service and fintech companies in the UK and Europe with its latest fund domiciled in Luxembourg and denominated in euros.
Persons: GoCardless, Stephen Chandler, we're, didn't, Chandler, Itxaso del Palacio, Stephanie Opdam, Kamil Mieczakowski Organizations: BlackRock, Visa, Tiger Global, Patient Capital, Novo Holdings, Cortes Capital, KfW, Itxaso Locations: Currencycloud, London, Europe, Luxembourg, Shelby County Tennessee, Upvest, Germany
Belgian insurance tech startup Qover has raised $30 million in Series C funding. Belgian insurance tech startup Qover has raised $30 million in a Series C funding round. "2022 was pivotal for our business because VC funding slowed down, metrics changed and we have a strong exposure to VC-backed companies," Colmant said. The Series C funding round came from investors including Anthemis, Alven, Kreos Capital and Zurich Global Ventures at an increased valuation. Check out Qover's 18-slide Series C pitch deck below:
Persons: Qover, Quentin Colmant, Colmant, Monese Organizations: Kreos, Zurich Global Ventures Locations: Belgian, Brussels, Kreos Capital
The adtech company held panel sessions and meetings at the "MediaMath Penthouse." But behind the scenes, MediaMath CEO Neil Nguyen had barely been sleeping, according to three people familiar with the matter. "We collectively believed as a company, board, and advisors that we had a deal in hand," the statement continued. When advertisers or agencies buy ads through a platform like MediaMath, the adtech company must pay publishers immediately for their ad space. But the adtech company must wait — often 90 days or more — to be paid by the advertiser or agency.
Persons: MediaMath, Goldman Sachs, MediaMath execs, Neil Nguyen, Nguyen, Olivier Anrigo, Xandr, Joe Zawadzki, Ernest Hemingway, Searchlight wasn't, Neil, Houlihan Lokey, Zeta, Viant, Chris Vanderhook, Tim Vanderhook, Frederick M, Brown, MGI, Lionel Hahn, Remco Westermann, Gary Hershorn, MGI's, Westermann, they'll, Zawadzki, he'd Organizations: Cannes Lions, Cannes, Goldman, Searchlight Capital, Carlton Hotel, Google, IBM, Bain Capital —, Aperiam, Searchlight, Silicon, Zeta Global, Media, Games Invest, Verve, MGI's Verve Group, Getty, Verve Group, Trade, World Trade, Trade Center Locations: France, Cannes, hobnobbing, Delaware, Japan, Manhattan, New York City, MediaMath, AperiamVentures
In 2020 he left to teach computer programming at his hometown's high school. In 2020, a year before the company I cofounded would be valued at $1 billion, I returned home to Cesis in Latvia to start my new job as a programming teacher at the local school. I realized how tough teaching isThe work of preparing for classes was all on me. My company and I found a suitable replacement candidate and agreed with the school to pay two-thirds of his salary. I didn't know the kids, they didn't know me, and we didn't know what to expect from each other.
Persons: Agris Tamanis, , I'd, Draugiem, We'd, Printful, we'd, haven't, I've Organizations: Service, Entrepreneurship Locations: Latvia, Latvian, Cesis, COVID, Printful
Aura Sells Cybersecurity to Regular People
  + stars: | 2023-07-05 | by ( Kim S. Nash | ) www.wsj.com   time to read: +5 min
Hari Ravichandran, chief executive of Aura, wants families—from children to their grandparents—to take charge of their personal cybersecurity. Ravichandran spoke with WSJ Pro about Aura’s challenges, and how it uses artificial intelligence to make cybersecurity invisible. With cybersecurity, people don’t think about a lot of the basic views from which your data can get exploited. In a grandparent scam, for example, somebody calls pretending to be your grandson or a granddaughter saying, “Hey, I’ve been kidnapped. Newsletter Sign-up WSJ Pro Cybersecurity Cybersecurity news, analysis and insights from WSJ's global team of reporters and editors.
Persons: Hari Ravichandran, Aura, , Jeffrey Katzenberg, Robert Downey Jr, Ravichandran, Jack Plunkett, it’s, , I’ve, Kim S, Nash Organizations: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Hollywood, DreamWorks, Southwest Locations: kim.nash
Glancy said startups shouldn't see the current venture slowdown as a sign to think smaller. The last few years drove billions of dollars in investment in logistics startups hoping to fix flaws in supply chains that became obvious to average consumers. As supply chains have righted themselves and the broader venture market has cooled to what some see as dangerous temperatures, the environment for logistics startups has changed dramatically. You know, there's thousands of freight forwarders. There's thousands of customs brokers.
Persons: Kaitlyn Glancy, Glancy, Flexport, There's, she's, I'm Organizations: Eclipse, Systems, Shopify, Logistics Locations: North America, Palo Alto , California, PwC, China, Flexport, Mexico, There's
The company, which has raised $345 million in funding from the likes of SoftBank Group (9984.T) and was last valued at $1.2 billion, has headquarters in Mexico and Brazil. CEO Sujay Tyle said the total number laid off was around 8-9%, with the company's headcount remaining over 400 employees. He added that those affected were concentrated in projects that were no longer a priority, with plans to refocus on brands generating over $15 million in revenue. "It was a difficult day," Tyle said of the layoffs, adding there were no plans for another series of job cuts. Tyle added that the company had a "quite healthy runway" and was now cash flow positive.
Persons: Sujay Tyle, Tyle, Isabel Woodford, Diane Craft Organizations: MEXICO CITY, Reuters, SoftBank, Thomson Locations: MEXICO, Mexico, Brazil, Brazilian, Colombian
Patient complaints go beyond the Wegovy shortageKaitlyn's complaints echo an array of issues faced by other Ro patients seeking weight-loss drugs. The patients Insider interviewed asked to be identified by their first names to protect their privacy. In this chat log, a Ro weight-loss patient sends messages to the startup asking to cancel the program. Reitano told Insider that around 90% of Ro patients got a response within 24 hours. "Until these DTC companies generally start getting into the muck of healthcare, they're not going to have a material impact," Parker told Insider.
Persons: Ro, Zachariah Reitano, Reitano, Li Ran, Robyn Phelps, Kaitlyn, She'd, didn't, she's, couldn't, Max Kerwick, drugstores, Max, Ro's, aren't, hasn't, Florian Gaertner, it's, TJ Parker, they're, Parker Organizations: New York, Getty, Better Business Bureau, Nordisk, Better Business, CareMetx, Ro, TechCrunch Locations: Xinhua, New York, New York City
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